Outrageous Shipping
 

Have any of you ever shipped to Ushuaia, Argentina from Canada. We are trying to figure out a plan after PanAlpina backed out on us. One company today quoted $14,000 for the four bikes to be shipped over two months by sea. This seems rediculous to me, as our flights were only $1250ish each.

If you have shipped which company did you ship with?

Have any of you crossed the Darien Gap? How did you do it? From Cartagena to Panama? We need to get across the gap as fast as possible, and must go through Cartagena and Panama City.

Rob
www.noblequest.org
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Shipping
 

Rob,

Re: shipping, costs seem a bit high but which port are you shipping out of and into? Vancouver ? There are some different agents mentioned on this site, do a bit of searching and you'll come across some recommendations and get a rough estimate of costs from different ports.

For the Darien Gap, you can't ride across it have to fly over it or take a boat. Common boat routes are from Cartagena to one of the ports in Panama. Flying can be from a few places like Quito, Ecuador but closest to Cartagena is Bogota, direct flights. See shipping section for details and costs. What'

$ 14.000 !!!! I just shipped a bike halfway round the world for $320. So yes, the offer you have been given is certainly outrageous, if not plain rude.

My best suggestion: Crate the bikes yourself, estimate the weight and measures of the loaded crate, and keep shopping around for a good price (freight companies need weight and outer measure to estimate a price). Remember to minimize the crate (consequently lowering the freight cost) by removing the front wheel, front fender, handlebar, and to lower the suspension with solid straps.

About the Darien Gap: There are stories about bikers crossing the gap (Helge Pedersen being the first), but they did not drive, just push, lift, carry, almost die of exhaustion etc... for weeks on end. There are no driveable trails through the 130 km thick jungle, and nowadays he area is infested with armed people you for sure do not want to meet. You'll better make a plan to ship around it (again do a search on the HUBB to find out how).

The $14,000 was for dropping the four crated bikes off at their warehouse in Calgary, from their Im not sure which port it would go to, but I know it went through Buenos Aires then onto Ushuaia. We have the original metal crates that the bikes came in when we picked it up at Turple Brothers. So we will just pack them back up into their crates. Wheels off, handlebars off and all, though we will likely try to fit the luggage in the free space of the crate.

Glad to hear im not crazy for thinkinf that was a bit steep. Hopefully I will hear from other companies.

Rob
www.noblequest.org

Have you read through the shipping section? Menu on left, there's almost a thousand shipments in there and lots of tips!

Note that there is almost certainly a BIG surcharge for BA to Ushuaia. It's only a week or so to Ushuaia from BA - I'd fly into there.

Note one big tip: ALWAYS sort the bike first THEN yourself! YOU are easy - the bike is not.

Also look into flying the bikes. By the time you pay port charges you might be surprised! Port charges can be as much as the freight, and they never tell you all the charges, cause they don't know! (They lie too.)

Re Darien - again the shipping section has tons on this, heavily travelled route, lots of choices. ALL involve flying or a sailboat around.

Good luck - and keep us posted for the ezine! And link to us and send me details and we'll link to your site.

What shipping Co. did you use?

shipping
 

Has anyone airfreighted a bike for the San Franciso Bay area to Lima Peru? I am trying to find a company to ship my bike to Lima in Sept. / Oct.
mtbh2o

Thanks Grant,
I searched heavily though the shipping section and read of another individual who shipped from Vancouver to Chile, I contacted the company that they shipped with, Nippon and we now have a much more reasonable quote, $4500 ish for the four bikes, from Calgary to Ushuaia. Im sure there will be extra charges, that many of you warn about, but i cant see it getting to be over $14,000, especially cause the $14,000 may have ad those same charges.

We though we had taken care of getting the bikes to Ushuaia when we booked the flights for ourselves, otherwise we wouldnt have booked them. Only Panalpina informed us just recently after a year of negotiations that they are not capable of shipping our bikes for us. Hence the seemingly last minute rush.

I have added one link already to Horizons Unlimited, it has prooven to be a great source of information, better then anywhere else.

I will make sure to keep you all posted with regards to the details of the trip, It should be a great adventure.

Rob
Noble Quest - Argentina to Alaska on V-Strom 650s